Tonight was shaping up to be one of those nights. Kasimir rolled over in bed and stared up at the cracks running through the plaster ceiling. It was going to be that sort of night where he could lay there as long as he wanted, but no amount of turning over, or kicking off the covers or anything else would help him sleep. He grimaced and wiped his face, but swallowed the little groan he wanted to make. It wasn't even worth it anymore. He'd had so many nights like this that he just took it in stride these days. A life of insomnia would do that to you. When he was younger it wasn't so bad, but these days there was just too much to think about when he laid there. Everything he'd done and regretted over a life so much longer than he deserved would come flooding back to taunt him over and over again. Nothing he could do would let him sleep at that point.

The griffon looked over to the window and confirmed that it was a wonderfully vague early hour in the morning. When he couldn't sleep usually he'd just lay there and fume over it, but sometimes he tried to do something more productive. If he was feeling a bit more alert he might even go outside to stretch his achy wings and go on a pointless patrol. Not tonight. He slipped out of bed and smoothed the covers over. He wasn't planning on returning any time soon anyway. No, tonight, he was going to finally start on something he'd been thinking about for years.

He wound his way down the hallway into his office. Enough moonlight reflected off the walls to navigate by night vision alone, but he'd need more for this. He flicked the switch on the wall, squinting as the gem light in the ceiling flared to life and illuminated the small, worn wooden desk against the side wall. On the far wall a pair of rifles with tarnished metal receivers hung on railroad spikes that had been twisted and screwed into the wall. A single dull black revolver hung staggered with an olive semi-auto pistol with a missing trigger, both sitting neatly between the divisions of the wooden panels. He really hated that pistol... one day he'd probably get around to fixing it.

Today was not that day. He slumped down at the desk and fished a heavy bound book with blank pages from the drawer. Tonight, he was going to start writing down some of the things that kept him awake. He'd never started because there was just so much that he doubted he'd ever finish it, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it didn't matter. Either he'd get some sleep or make some progress on getting it all out. Maybe writing it down would even help. He sure as hell wasn't ever going to talk about it with anybody. They say talking helped or something. Guess he'd never know.

He stared down at the first empty sheet of paper and twirled a pencil in his claws. Maybe if he got with the times and had a personal terminal he could record it there rather than the old fashioned way. The blasted things had a tendency to die at the least provocation though. Especially around him. He was Cursed Kasimir after all. He allowed himself a tiny smirk and an amused grunt. Maybe if he typed it all out and the terminal dumped it into oblivion when its spell matrices inevitably shorted out he could finally get some peace.

Whatever, he was just wasting time now. The point of the pencil tapped against the page as he thought, leaving little gray blemishes over what was soon going to be his life in written form. Fitting. He decided to leave them as he thought back to the best place to start.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing that came to mind happened just days after he started working in Fillydelphia.

Character Creation

Name: Kasimir Longtalons
Gender: Male
Age: 23

Species / Race: Griffon

6 - Strength
6 - Perception
6 - Endurance
4 - Charisma
7 - Intelligence
7 - Agility
4 - Luck

Tagged Skills: Firearms, Medicine, Survival

Traits

Insomniac – You have a hard time sleeping, but after years of it you're used to it. Make an END check every night to sleep. You wake at the slightest hint of trouble though!

Jinxed – Everyone around you suffers double the chance of critical failure. That includes you!

Author's Notes:

Since there's been a request for a pronunciation guide on some of these crazy names, I've included a link to one here. I may add other reference materials here if the need arises.

Pronunciation Guide